Natural Climate Vulnerability This module covers the following: How to identify the potential impacts of climate change on natural hazards How to identify the potential impacts of climate change on the built environment. How to identify the potential impacts of climate change on ecosystem services and the natural environment. It will also explore how to identify cumulative effects of climate change on the natural environment.

1. Foto; Harald Vartdal/Fjordingen http://www.dagbladet.no/2011/12/30/nyheter/innenriks/klima/veret/ekstremver/19601159/
Analysing Climate Vulnerability: Training for Adaptation
Natural Vulnerability

2. Process Stage 1
Analysing Climate Vulnerability: Natural Vulnerability
Natural Climate Vulnerability
This module covers the following:
• How to identify the potential impacts of climate change on natural hazards
• How to identify the potential impacts of climate change on the built environment.
• How to identify the potential impacts of climate change on ecosystem services and the natural
environment.
• It will also explore how to identify cumulative effects of climate change on the natural environment.
Climate Adaptation
E. Heiberg & D. Davies, 2012
Online Training Resource

3. Process Stage 1
Analysing Climate Vulnerability: Natural Vulnerability
Identifying the potential impacts of climate change on natural hazards
Firstly need to identify the types of natural
hazards that may affect your area.
Examples of natural hazards:
• Geohazards
-Rockfalls,
-Avalanches,
-Land-slides,
-Quick clay slides
• Flooding
• Storm surges
• Storms
• Sea level rise
• Heat waves
• Draughts
Climate Adaptation
E. Heiberg & D. Davies, 2012
Online Training Resource

4. Process Stage 1
Analysing Climate Vulnerability: Natural Vulnerability
Identifying potential impacts: Norwegian resources on Geo-hazards
Climate Adaptation
E. Heiberg & D. Davies, 2012
Online Training Resource

5. Process Stage 1
Analysing Climate Vulnerability: Natural Vulnerability
How to identify the potential impacts of climate change on natural hazards
Step 2: Identify how climate change may affect the
relevant natural hazards
-Assessments require specialist knowledge
-In many cases basic uncertainties or lack of data
make assessments difficult to produce
Climate Adaptation
E. Heiberg & D. Davies, 2012
Online Training Resource

6. Process Stage 1
Analysing Climate Vulnerability: Natural Vulnerability
How to identify the potential impacts of climate change on the built environment
You need different assessment-tools and information depending on whether the vulnerability of the
built environment is depending mostly on localisation or on design
Climate Adaptation
E. Heiberg & D. Davies, 2012
Online Training Resource

7. Process Stage 1
Analysing Climate Vulnerability: Natural Vulnerability
Impacts on natural environment and ecosystem services
• The natural environment is especially vulnerable to the effects of climate change
• The natural environment provide a wide range of ecosystem services critical to human well-being:
- provisioning (e.g. food and fibre),
- regulating (e.g. climate change and floods),
- cultural (e.g. recreational and aesthetic),
- supporting (e.g. soil formation)
• The impact of climate change on the natural environment is complex.
• The impact of climate change is exerting an additional pressure on biodiversity in combination with
changes in land use and land management, over-exploitation, pollution etc.
• Uncertainties limit our ability to project climate change impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem
services.
Climate Adaptation
E. Heiberg & D. Davies, 2012
Online Training Resource

8. Process Stage 1
Analysing Climate Vulnerability: Natural Vulnerability
Identify cumulative effects on the natural environment!
Why?
• The natural environment is exposed to a number of other
stress factors in addition to climate change.
-Habitat fragmentation, loss and conversion are generally the
most important reasons for loss of biodiversity
-Other important reasons are over-exploitation, invasive alien
species, and pollution.
• The options to assist the natural environment to adapt to
climate change are limited
• Reducing other stress factors are important measures to
enhance the resilience of biodiversity to climate change
-Uncertainties limit our ability to project climate change
impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services.
Climate Adaptation
E. Heiberg & D. Davies, 2012
Online Training Resource

9. Process Stage 1
Analysing Climate Vulnerability: Natural Vulnerability
Identify cumulative effects on the natural environment!
How?
• Assess the current status and environmental stress-factors
of habitats and species
• Try to identify trends and prospects that may change the
current stress-factors
• This will enable you to identify: vulnerable biotopes/
habitats and species
• Possible strategies and measures to enhance the
resilience of the natural environment to climate change
-conservation
-restoration
-sustainable management strategies
Climate Adaptation
E. Heiberg & D. Davies, 2012
Online Training Resource

10. Process Stage 1
Analysing Climate Vulnerability: Natural Vulnerability
Final key points:
• The cause and effect between climate change and increased natural hazards are not
straightforward.
• The natural environment is especially vulnerable to climate change.
• The robustness of the ecosystems depends on the cumulative effects of climate change and
other man-made disruptions.
Climate Adaptation
E. Heiberg & D. Davies, 2012
Online Training Resource